Row erupts as extra staff brought in to process payments for farmers

A ROW has broken out after it emerged that new staff are being brought in to work on a online payments system for farmers.

The new application system for allocating Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) EU subsidy grants for farmers has been criticised by some users as unfit for purpose.

A deadline for applications had to be extended by one month as the Scottish Government struggled with complexities of new CAP rules, while concern has been raised that payments may be late.

It has emerged that 20 new ‘digitisers’ are being hired to work on the system, in what the Scottish Conservatives said was an indication of further problems to come.

The party’s rural affairs spokesman Alex Fergusson said: “During the fiasco that led to the online application process having to be extended by a month, I said repeatedly the real problems would come during the verification process.

“The recent advertisement to recruit 20 further technicians would suggest that the end of the application process was just the start of the problems. If the IT application system had been fit for purpose in the first place we would not be in this situation.

“The rural affairs minister must negotiate with the EU to ensure that payments are made on time – if they are not, he will have no-one to blame but himself.”

However, the claim was refuted by a spokesman for Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead, who accused his critics of “brazen hypocrisy” after the Tory UK Government abandoned its IT system after similar difficulties.

“Additional staff are being recruited to maintain the accuracy of our Land Parcels Identification System, and deal with additional mapping requirements in relation to new Greening requirements imposed by the European Commission,” he said. “There is no link between the recruitment of these additional staff and the technical issues which initially affected the new IT system.

“Over 21,000 SAFs [Single Appli- cation Forms] were submitted. We continue to work hard to process these claims and start making payments under the new CAP as early as we can in the payment window, which is set by Europe, in legislation, and goes from December 1 to June 30 the following year.

“We have consistently expressed concern about the complexity of the new CAP, and the additional administrative costs that imposes.”